For the last two weeks I have been volunteering on a farm because, since I want to work in the agriculture industry, I thought it would be good to get more hands-on experience. The farm was an organic farm with vegetables, chickens, and cattle (so this post is sort of about animals, but not completely). Although I’m not someone who thinks organic is always best, I do think it is beneficial to learn about many different types of farming. People tend to separate farming into two main categories; organic and conventional. The people who own the farm that I volunteered on not only believed in organic, but were very against the conventional ways of producing food. Along with talking to the other volunteers, I realized how agriculture is so divided among farmers and consumer perception.
The public increasingly wants to know more about how their food is produced. And it’s such a fascinating and important process that we should know! But we need to be able to have a conversation about it, right? Just like with anything we need to be able to talk with others who have different opinions. It may be tough (trust me, I am a very opinionated person) but we need to listen. The thing is, all good farmers want to produce wholesome food while taking care of their land and animals. Not all farmers may be good…but that’s a conversation for another day. We all have the same goal, but people have different ways that they believe work best for them. And why do we only have to have one solution anyway? Personally, I think having diversity in agriculture production is a good thing because the situation and landscape of every farm is unique. Also because we need to try new methods to determine which ones are the most effective.
I don’t consider myself to be on one side or the other of the organic and conventional debate. I do think that conventional farming gets a bad reputation. First of all, because the industry has made mistakes in the past and there continues to be improvements that I think should be made. However, I also think that the industry is not very adept at promoting its good qualities. For example, there are programs such as WWOOF-ing that enable people with no experience to go and work on organic farms and I think that the conventional sector could benefit from a similar program. This way people could see the things that farmers are doing well and how much time they spend working directly on their land and with their animals.
The agriculture industry has made so much progress in the recent past, not just with efficiency, but by being more environmentally friendly and effective with animal handling. Progress is good; we want this in every industry. Progress is what allowed farmers to escape the lowest rung of society and to send their kids to school. However, I do think we have the most to learn from the “natural” way of doing things and integrating ourselves into nature as opposed to trying to control it. The last thing I ask of people is, please don’t romanticize agriculture or stereotype people in a certain sector. It is hard work, no matter which kind of operation one has and every farm is different. If you want to learn more do research on all sides, or better yet, go talk to farmers! They are real people, generally good, just like you and me.
Also, feel free to ask me any questions if you want and I will do my best to answer them or point you in the right direction. I didn’t go into much detail about farming techniques in this article because my goal was to just get you thinking about where your food is coming from. But don’t worry, more posts will follow!
Life with Animals 